Just as an actor is not in reality like the character that they portray.

We are just a group of people who enjoy flying German aircraft in combat flight simulators and are also historical enthusiasts.

Swastikas that you see here have been left for historical accuracy in context to the game.

Any references to the members of the real JG52 are not in any way to glorify them for having been members of, nor having served the Nazi party, but rather to acknowledge them for the accomplishments they were able to achieve as fighter pilots.

---Thank You.

JG52: Fighting the Fair Fight

01. There will be ABSOLUTELY NO ALLOWANCE for the use of cheats, exploits, etc.!02. You WILL obey the rules as set forth by the server. If you accidentally break one of those rules APOLOGIZE IMMEDIATELY! Pay special attention to rules regarding vulching, use of rockets & bombs, etc. If no mention is made in the rules regarding vulching, follow these guidelines: - When in a fighter aircraft DO NOT shoot or bomb enemy AC that are taking off, landing (i.e. gear down) or ditching (due to battle damage)! - When in a bomber/zerstörer you may bomb and strafe at your own discretion! - NOTE: AI gunners are exempt from this section as in most flight simulations there is no way to prevent them from firing at enemy AC.03. NO intentional team-killing04. NO intentional kill-stealing. Don't "cut in" in front of a friendly who's in hot pursuit. If the attacking AC breaks away & the enemy AC appears that it might still be in the fight, its fair game. But if its obvious that the enemy AC is "inherently doomed" (going down & will be destroyed: on fire, out of control, pilot killed, etc.) leave it alone so that the pilot who did the work can get credit for it!05. NO intentional chute killing! Note: Accidents will happen, you can't predict when an enemy pilot is going to bail out while you're shooting. However, you WILL NOT shoot a pilot hanging in his parachute or destroy it!!! 06. NO shoulder shooting or cutting in front of friendlies who are in a firing position!07. If you witness a suspected case of cheating or questionable conduct, report it IMMEDIATELY to the proper authorities (server admins, etc.)

THE REAL JG52

"Germany's Mother of Aces" by Jon Guttman as published by World War II Magazine in Sept.2002

Experts niggle over many "firsts" and "greatests" in history of military aviation, but one Luftwaffe unit tends to trivialize them all. Cobbled together between 1939 and 1940 from cadres provided by I Group of Jagdgeschwader (Fighter Wing) 71, JG52 never had a catchy nickname like some of its sister units, and while other organizations received advanced or innovative fighter aircraft, JG52 used only one type, the Messerschmitt Bf 109. The unit did little during the invasion of Poland and performed modestly during the Battles of France and Britain. Even in the initial stages of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, JG52 was not particularly outstanding. Then, just as the tide was turning against Germany, its pilots began an orgy of air-to-air mayhem such as the world had never seen and is unlikely to see again. By the time Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945, JG52 had logged a grand total of some 11,000 victories.

Individually, JG52's pilots also hold undisputed records. The first, second, third and sixth ranking aces of all time served in the unit, Erich Hartmann with 352 victories, Gerhard Barkhorn with 301, Gunther Rall with 275 and Wilhelm Batz with 237. Combined, those four "top guns" accounted for 1,165 enemy planes, more than all the German aircraft destroyed in the air and on the ground by the highest-scoring fighter group in the U.S. Army Air Forces. At some time in their careers, 35 pilots with 100 or more victories served in JG52; six had scores exceeding 200.

During 1943, JG52 incorporated squadrons from the allied republics of Slovakia and Croatia. Fighting over the Crimea and Kuban regions of Russia, both units did well, as a result of which JG52 could claim to have produced not only the leading ace of Germany, but also of Slovakia (Jan Reznak, with 32 victories) and Croatia (Mato Dukovac, with 40).

JG52's phenomenal success, even by Luftwaffe standards, has stimulated its share of explanatory theories. Western observers have attributed the fantastic scores of the German Experten to the propaganda of a totalitarian state, or to the inferiority of the Luftwaffe's Soviet opponents. The first claim was refuted by the professionalism with which the Luftwaffe tallied its scores and the later release of Soviet loss records, which disputed their claims by a factor of no more than 10 percent. As for the quality of the opposition, Soviet aircraft were indeed outdated and their aircrews inexperienced when Operation Barbarossa began in June 1941, but by 1943 both the aircraft and the pilots had improved considerably. Yet many of JG52's greatest pilots began their scoring at that time. Batz, for example did not gain his first victory until March 11, 1943. Hartmann's first unassisted victory occurred on January 27, 1943, but, significantly, he had already flown 90 missions before getting into his stride.

The key to JG52's success lay in the unique circumstances in which it found itself. It was fighting a tactical war over the Russian steppes, seldom more than half an hour from the front lines. Its pilots flew anywhere from three to seven missions a day, against enemies who were generally doing the same. As a result, aerial engagements did not take the form of one-time clashes, as were usually experienced by British and American pilots flying missions across the English Channel, but of constant sprawling melees that littered the battlefields below with wreckage from both sides.

Contrary to the popular film image, however, not every aerial success resulted in an enemy plane going down in flames or exploding in midair. On the Eastern Front, close proximity to the lines and relatively flat ground on which to land also gave the pilots of a great many crippled aircraft, both German and Russian, opportunities to crash-land so that they, and sometimes their reparable aircraft, could fight another day. That factor had much to do with both the survival and success of JG52's pilots, for they were by no means invincible, and they were among the first to admit that their Soviet opponents could be formidable. Barkhorn survived being shot down nine times. Walter Krupinski, Hartmann's mentor and victor over 197 Allied planes, estimated that he crashed about a dozen times.

That leads to another factor in the German fighter pilots' unique set of circumstances. On other fronts, pilots who had been shot down (including Germans) were entitled to a period of rest and recuperation. On the Eastern Front, nobody, least of all the increasingly outnumbered Germans, could afford such a luxury. Given such constant activity, members of JG52 accumulated a wealth of experience that was reflected in escalating scores, provided combat fatigue or the law of averages did not catch up with them, as they inevitably did for many of the wing's members. Between September 1941 and October 1943, Heinz "Johnny" Schmidt rose from enlisted man to a captain and scored 173 victories, only to be shot down and killed on October 29. And for every ace, scores of JG52 pilots died before they could gain that necessary level of combat savvy.

To the unique foundation of terrain, opportunity and experience that characterized JG52's war may be added the relationship between pilot and plane, which in the tight confines of an Bf109 could be intimate indeed. Finally, one cannot discount the importance of two remaining factors over which JG52's most elite pilots had no control, but which they seem to have possessed in abundance: talent and luck.

PS: Another interesting fact; the Finger-Four flight formation was devised by none other than Werner Molders during the Spanish Civil War. How about that?

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